Joining the protocol

You have a node running successfully on your machine, now it's time to joinhe GaiaNet protocol network and get rewards for sharing computing power with the world by binding your node ID and device ID.

When you run a node with the Getting Started guide, you may notice that the GaiaNet software has generated a node ID for you. The node ID is an ETH address. The easiest way to find the node ID is to use gaianet info to print the node ID and device ID on the terminal.

gaianet info

The output will be the following:

Node ID: 0x80642b1----9a76a284efeb2bb6d142e

Device ID: device-e77---1446f1b51

To receive your rewards, all you need to do is bind your node ID and device id with a Metamask account via the GaiaNet web portal:

1. Open https://www.gaianet.ai/ on your browser and log in to the website with your Metamask account

2. Select the Node section by clicking on your account, then click on the +Add Node button. Next,

3. Copy and paste your node ID into the relevant field and do the same for the device ID in the second box. Then, click on the Join button.

• After your node is joined successfully, it will be displayed in the list of nodes on the Node Page.

• You can bind multiple node ID and its corresponding device ids to your MetaMask wallet address if you are running multiple nodes.

Please do not share the device id with others.

Protecting your node ID and device ID​

The GaiaNet installer generates a pair of ETH address and keystore and password for your node automatically. This information is stored in the gaianet/nodeid.json file. Please keep the JSON file carefully.

• The ETH address is your node ID. You will use this ETH address to join the GaiaNet network.

• The keystore stores the private key associated with the ETH address encrypted by the password.

The nodeid.json is the only proof that your node belongs to you. In many protocol operations, you will need this private key to sign request messages to send to the protocol smart contracts.

The device id is only visible to yourself.

Selecting a different domain​

By default, a new GaiaNet node joins the gaianet.network domain. You can select a different domain to join by putting the GaiaNet domain's public DNS name in the domain field in the config.json. Please note that most GaiaNet domains require approval for nodes to join. You have to abide by the domain's rules before your node becomes publicly accessible on the domain URL.